Business

Agri fintech Traive, focused on rural credit, secures a $17 million Series A

According to the startup, the round led by VCs SP Ventures and Astella Investimentos is the largest ever raised by an agtech operating in Brazil

Brazilian agri-fintech A de Agro debuts with BRL 1.8 billion for rural credit — Photo: Shutterstock

LABS

23.Oct.2021 17:14 BRT
UPDATED 17:16 BRT

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The agri fintech Traive, focused on credit for agribusiness, announced a $17 million Series A funding round led by venture capital SP Ventures and Astella Investimentos. Also participating in the funding were Tiger Global, Minerva VC, Syngenta Group Ventures, Serasa Experian VC, and CSN Inova Ventures. According to the startup, this is the largest Séries A round ever raised by an agtech operating in Brazil.

Founded by Brazilians in 2018 in the United States, from a research project of students from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Traive has built an open financial platform to connect rural producers to financial players. Its solution offers everything from investment risk analysis, through the creation of credit profiles of rural producers, to investor portfolio management and digital trading of receivables.

The startup plans to invest the new funds in expanding its user base and credit offer, and in developing new products and services. Traive expects to offer up to $18 billion in rural credit by 2025.

In 2020, Traive had already received a $2.5 million investment led by SP Ventures and followed by the U.S. VCs Bread & Butter Ventures and Techstars. According to Francisco Jardim, SP Ventures’ CEO, Traive is leading the fintech segment focused on agribusiness. “Like we have built some of the best challenger banks, Brazil is building the most high-tech financial services industry in the world for the rural producer,” he said.

Fabricio Pezente, Traive’s cofounder and CEO, said the Series A raised now puts the startup on another tier. “The plateau we have reached in this Series A round is greater than what is commonly raised on funding rounds in agtechs. The strategic investors that are joining in know the potential of the industry and the need for digitization.”

Which startup will be the first LatAm agtech unicorn?

The robust round raised by Traive heats up the race for the title of the first agtech unicorn in Latin America. Everyone knows that the agribusiness innovation ecosystem is growing fast, but although there are already some 663 agtech companies in the region, according to Crunchbase data, none of these startups has reached the $1 billion valuation – not yet.

What is missing for Latin America to have its first agribusiness unicorn? LABS talked to venture capitalists and agtechs in the region about it.